In many applications, multiple bearings used to support a shaft or other rotating components are pressed into a housing as separate parts. These are sometimes installed on opposite sides of a housing or, in some cases, such as automotive transmissions, are installed from the same side with a spacer located therebetween. As vehicle transmissions are challenged to have reduced frictional loses, more applications for the use radial bearings to reduce friction of rotating shafts within housings are available. However, these arrangements have drawbacks in that the bearings are being installed into deeper bores or openings in the housing from one side with a spacer located between them. The bearings are spaced apart in order to provide the largest available spacing between them in order to limit tilt and/or displacement of the shafts supported thereby. This also improves system rigidity. In some applications where individual components are pressed into the bore, this requires two bearings, for example 7, 8 shown in FIG. 1, as well as a spacer 9 to be separately installed into a housing bore. Here one or more of the components may be omitted at assembly or the components may be assembled with an improper sequence (i.e., with the bearings stacked directly together, which may not be immediately visible after assembly through normal quality control procedures). Additionally, damage can result to the housing bore due to pressing multiple separate components through the same bore surface.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a radial rolling bearing assembly that allows for installation of multiple radial bearings into a single bore while avoiding the drawbacks of the known prior art.